London Art Chase by Natalie Grant Read Free Book Online Page A

room.
    â€œHush, Lulu,” Mia said.
    â€œNo really, what is that?” Lulu pointed to the oddest painting in the room. It was a face, or something like a face, but everything was in the wrong place.
    â€œLulu, you’re being rude,” Mia said, pulling her away from the painting.
    â€œStop pulling me.”
    â€œWell, stop shouting. You’re making everyone look.”
    It was true. Everyone in the room was looking. In fact, a security guard had started toward them, probably to tell Lulu it wasn’t appropriate to shout in a museum.
    â€œYou know what, girls,” Miss Julia said, redirecting them toward the gallery door. “Maybe it’s time for lunch. There’s a dining room here at the Gallery that has excellent reviews.”
    â€œBut no one has answered my question,” Lulu said. “Why is everything in the wrong place on that painting? Why would a painter do that?”
    â€œWe can talk about it later,” Mia said.
    It had to be a pretty embarrassing moment to make Mia turn bright red, and her cheeks were flaming. Maddie would have been embarrassed too, if she weren’t so frustrated. She’d really wanted to look at “Sun-Splattered Afternoon” and to answer Miss Julia’s question. Sometimes in this family there wasn’t time to think. Every time she started to think about something for real, someone interrupted and they were off again in some new direction, leaving Maddie and her thoughts behind.
    Miss Julia and her sisters were nearly out of the gallery. Maddie had to jog to catch up, glancing back one more time at the painting. Her head filled with the words she would have liked to say to Miss Julia about what she liked about the paint and the figures and the artist’s style. Renoir’s style.
    â€œWhen we come back, can we still be art detectives?” Lulu asked.
    â€œWe can,” Miss Julia said, leading the way downstairs to the dining room.
    Maddie had to admit her stomach was growling. Maybe she could bargain for another look at “Sun-Splattered Afternoon” after lunch.



TEN
    I n the National Gallery Restaurant, the waiter gave them their choice of seats, because the restaurant hadn’t filled up yet for lunch. They chose a table near the windows where they could look out over Trafalgar Square.
    After looking over the menu, they chose Shirley Temples with cherries on top to drink, a couple orders of fish and chips to share, and a salad, which they all promised to eat a few bites of—even Lulu.
    As Miss Julia took out an activity book for Lulu, Mia slid over close to Maddie.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Mia asked.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou’re so quiet. You’ve barely said three words since we sat down to eat.”
    Maddie shrugged. “I’m okay.”
    â€œCome on, Maddie. I know you. You’re obviously not okay. What’s wrong?”
    Maddie glanced over at Lulu, but her little sister and Miss Julia were too busy with the activity book to listen to their conversation.
    â€œI was in the middle of talking with Miss Julia about that painting—you know, ‘Sun-Splattered Afternoon,’ and then Lulu made all that commotion and we had to leave.”
    â€œDid you really like the paintings, though?” Mia asked. “I mean, most of them were . . . I don’t know . . . old, don’t you think?”
    â€œWell, yes, they’re old, but isn’t that what people like about them?”
    â€œIs that what you like about them?”
    â€œNo. I don’t know. It’s interesting that they’re old. I like thinking about the painters who lived a long time ago and painted them.”
    â€œWould you want to hang one of them in our house? I mean, if we could actually do that?”
    â€œNot most of them, no. But maybe ‘Sun-Splattered Afternoon.’ I liked the colors and the texture of the paint. If you looked at the painting one